Eight institutions across UK named centres of excellence

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Eight universities across the UK have been named Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACEs-CSE) by the National Cyber Security Centre.

Seven institutions have been awarded the NCSC gold standard, recognising their approach to teaching cybersecurity and promoting cyber skills in the community. These include the universities of Abertay, Lancaster, Southampton, South Wales, Surrey, Warwick, and the West of England.

Edinburgh Napier University, meanwhile, was given a silver award.

The NCSC, which is part of GCHQ, is responsible for sharing and promoting expertise in cybersecurity at a national level as well as providing expert response to major incidents.

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Abertay University said the award recognised the high quality of its teaching, research and outreach work and is linked to the university’s plans for the cyberQuarter, which is intended to attract cybersecurity firms to Dundee, support the creation of new companies, and boost the security and resilience of the Scottish business community.

The cyberQuarter is a major project that is being funded with £11.7m of UK and Scottish Government funding through the Tay Cities Region Deal, along with a further £6.5m investment from the university.

Napier said the NCSC award would now see cybersecurity integrated into programmes across the wider university, and greater emphasis put on engagement with external stakeholders.

Chris Ensor, NCSC deputy director for cyber growth, said: “I am delighted we can now recognise the first tranche of universities as Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Education, complementing our existing programmes which recognise high-quality cybersecurity research and degree courses. It is a testament to the continual efforts of academics, support staff and senior management that cybersecurity remains high on their agenda. We very much look forward to working with them over the coming years and strongly encourage other universities to work towards achieving this ACE-CSE recognition in the future.”

Professor Nigel Seaton, principal of Abertay University, said: “Being named a UK Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education and the launch of the cyberQuarter project will place the university and the city of Dundee at the heart of Scotland’s cybersecurity sector.

“We are confident that by combining academic expertise, student talent, enterprise support and industry knowledge in this way, we have all the ingredients for significant sectoral growth and new job opportunities, as well as innovation in research and business development.”